


my bones hold a stillness

by arestlesswind



Series: The misadventures of Jamie Tiberius Kirk and her grumpy boyfriend Bones [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Genderbending, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 07:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/821506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arestlesswind/pseuds/arestlesswind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“C’mon, Bones. Didn’t you miss me even a little bit?” Jamie Kirk’s alive. Or, at least, she’s trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	my bones hold a stillness

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ayries from the prompt “Bones tormenting her while she recovers to hide how shaken he is.” It turned out sassier than I intended, sadder than I intended, and fluffier than I intended, which I suppose is the mixture of wonder for this ship. Massive spoilers for "Into Darkness," title nicked from Sylvia Plath’s “Sheep in Fog.”

*

“So. How much did you miss me?”

“You kidding me, kid? I should’ve _kept_ you in that coma. Actually got some work done. _And_ some peace of mind.”

 

 

*

“Bones, for the last time, get that thing off my face or I swear to god you’re transferred.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I need to monitor your heart-rate to make sure you don’t _die a second time_ , sweetheart. We don’t know the full properties of Khan’s blood. All we got for evidence is that damn Tribble.”

On cue, the savior of Jamie’s life trills happily from its glass cage. She wanted to name it Lenny. Bones said he’d poison her in her sleep. They’re still fighting for custody.

“The lowest class starship in the whole fleet, I swear.”

“Suck it up.”

“Bones, I died. Couldn’t you improve your bedside manner even a little?”

“ _No_ ,” he snaps, viciously, throwing That Thing into the medical tray so hard it shakes.

“Pretty sure it’s a regulation if you break the equipment you have to pay for it.”

“ _You_ pay for it.”

“You pay for it, _Captain._ ”

Bones turns away in disgust. Jamie’s pretty sure, no, very sure, he says not under his breath at all, _“stupid heroic son of a bitch._ ”

“Love you too, Bones,” she sighs.

 

 

*

“ _Ow! Goddammit!”_

“Would you keep it down?”

“ _Would you stop sticking me with things?!_ ”

“It’ll help stabilize your brain pressure.”

“You said that six injections ago. _Ahh, fuck!_ ”

“Pipe your mouth or I’ll make it twelve.”

“I hate you. You’re a stupid mean doctor.”

“Swell. Now sit still.”

“Give me a lollipop and I will.”

“No.”

“Beer?”

“No.”

“Do that thing with your mouth I like so much?”

“Jamie!”

“What? It’s what you did last time.”

“Nurse, _do not file what the Captain just said in the report.”_

“Nurse, please make an official planet-wide report to Starfleet stating that Leonard McCoy’s mouth is just as legendary as his han – ”

 

 

*

The last drug has severe allergic reactions.

In the facial area.

Bones just happens to invite Spock into the medbay that day.

 

 

*

She walks with a cane the first week, doesn’t mind the crew seeing. Wants them to.

She owes them that much.

And there was no way in hell she was having Bones escort her on his arm.

“No. No, no, no, no no and no. I will fall flat on my ass before I let you do that.”

“Good. Then I can laugh my ass off at you.”

Spock observes them impassively. “As your romantic companion, would you prefer Doctor McCoy to _carry_ you in his arms to the Captain’s chair?”

Two heads rotate toward him, very slowly.

Jamie narrows her eyes. She points an accusing finger. “Spock. You just made a _funny_.”

She interprets his raised eyebrow as a shrug.

“Hell if that’s ever happening,” Bones mutters.

“I could offer my services for the facilitation of the Captain’s transportation.”

“ _DON’T YOU EVEN YOU POINTY-EARED STONE-HEARTED MONSTROSITY._ ”

 

 

*

“C’mon. You didn’t miss me even a _little_ bit?”

Wordless grunting.

“Bones, you sure do know how to make a girl feel loved.”

 

 

*

“I’m horny.”

“Good morning to you, too.”

“Care to help me fix it?”

“Why should I care?”

“You’re my doctor. Doctors help their patients with their physical problems.”

“Yeah, well, go skinny dip in the Atlantic, that’ll help your _problem._ ”

“God, Bones, come _onnnn._ I just _died!_ Three weeks ago! I’m still recovering from trauma! I need the comfort.”

“What, me saving your life isn’t good enough?”

“I need the comfort of your legendary hands, Leonard.”

Jamie’s quite pleased with herself to see the tips of his ears turn pink.

For all his flirt and bluster, whenever she traps him in a corner or pounces him in bed or even gets drunk enough to say she loves him and mean it, Bones, as he is, melts – a shy boy, stammering and blushing and unsure what to do with his hands.

Despite a marriage, despite Joanna, despite the fantastic and, if she does say so herself, and she does, life-changing sexual acts she’s introduced him to over the years.

Her heart warms, every time.

“Well,” she declares, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. “Guess I’ll go see what Sulu’s up to.”

In retrospect, Jamie’s extremely impressed at how fast Bones is with a hypospray.

_*_

When she passes out, once, legitimately, he drags her back to the medbay in a frenzy, shouting at the bodies in his way and fussing like a mother hen. She wakes and demands his resignation on the spot, Spock smirks (the worthless backstabbing Vulcan bastard), Uhura watches by the door and squeezes Spock’s hand a little too tight.

Bones grabs her by the shoulders, shaking her, pressing her face in his hands and she thinks blue eyes and black hair and _No ship should go down without her captain,_ her bones crushing and her breath straining and Spock’s hand on the glass and the father she never had and everything she never told Leonard McCoy, the only man she’s wanted to share the stars with.

“Don’t you dare pull this shit on me again,” he hisses. “Don’t you _dare,_ Jamie Kirk.”

 

 

*

She’s slouching in Nyota’s doorway, pestering, returning the atmosphere to normal, not here to say anything, when it spills.

“What’s up with Bones?”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that, Captain.”

“No. Not Captain.”

Jamie eases herself into the chair across Nyota. Winces just a little, a muscular reflex action. At least her brain communicates in tandem with the rest of her body, now.

“How…” She drops her face into her hand, thumb and index finger pressing hard against her forehead. Wishing for medication, wishing for something as simple as a true physical ache. “How did he take it?”

Nyota spins around, hair swinging in that semi-magical way she’s mastered. “You died, Jamie,” she says, point of fact. _“_ It doesn’t matter that it was for less than an hour. He loves you, and you died.”

Jamie Kirk looks up.

“How do you think he took it?” Nyota asks gently.

 

 

*

“Leonard,” she murmurs, his name hoarser than she intended, almost a whisper. He’s organizing vials and barking at scrambling nurses, his back to her.

“What?” he snaps.

“I’m sorry.”

He stops.

There are words. And, later, there are mouths and hands and Bones kissing her so hard, he’s going to lose her again any second, he’ll turn around and just like that she’s gone she’s gone she’s _gone, the Captain’s dead._ She kisses him like it’s her last desperate gasping breath he didn’t even see that, Spock was the one, why didn’t Scotty call him too, even if he was there there was nothing he could’ve done, she came to him in a _fucking sack_ cold and pale.

She’s not a cuddler. Never been one, lets Bones hold her sometimes in the aftermath because it makes him happy.

They don’t let go of each other for hours.

 

 

*

She’s not quite sure what she apologizes the once for. She has a list three times as long as it should be, and every day it doubles that.

She’s not sorry she died.

She saved them.

Maybe she’s sorry the only way to save him was to hurt him.

 

 

*

It’ll take a while, but eventually she’ll stop jumping at unexpected sounds, the mystery at the corner of her eye, someone standing too close behind her, sky blue irises.

She’ll stop having nightmares.

He’ll never stop either.

 

 

*

She talks to Scotty, a lot. Surprisingly. Weirdly.

Sulu some. Uhura. Chekov’s no longer an innocent but Jamie can’t shake the obligation to protect. ( _Makes you a good captain,_ Pike once said, _oh Christopher._ )

Spock, never.

Finally, she talks to Bones.

 

 

*

Jamie Tiberius Kirk skips onto the bridge of her ship. Smirks at her crew, winks at Spock, strolls up to Bones and smacks him on the shoulder.

“C’mon, Bones,” she says. “It'll be fun.”

She kisses him on the cheek for good measure before lounging in the chair. She sings, from her temples to her fingertips. It’s _right._

“Five years in space,” Bones bites out fiercely between gritted teeth. “God help me.”

He doesn’t sound even half as sincere as he should.

Jamie smiles.

That’s right, too.

 


End file.
